Dopamina Endurance - the 2017 season review


The Endurance racing scene in the south of Brazil can be classified as a strong one compared to the rest of the country, and is the stability found here that served as the base for a national championship this year, known as the Dopamina Endurance Series.

The 2017 season had all kinds of surprises but a sure champion in the No. 20 Stuttgart Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3R with Ricardo Maurício and Marcel Visconde, so let’s review the main points of it.

-It was all about Porsche and reliability wasn’t enough

Stuttgart Motorsport returned to the racing scene after a brief hiatus, and Marcel Visconde and company didn’t measure ways to come back strong, as their car choice was the Porsche 991 GT3R, the first current spec GT3 machine to arrive in Brazilian lands. Fast, stable and reliable, it racked up a series of wins after missing out the first place by a little margin at Tarumã in the first round, with Maurício clocking the fast laps while Visconde was the safe pair of hands, which granted the title for Stuttgart Motorsport with a race to go, at Velo Città, and this thing also broke the point where reliability was the main key to win, which always gave chances for the other GP1 competitors.

The first mistake or problem would be decisive to kick a car out of the hunt for the win, and fast contenders such as the No. 65 NC Racing MRX, the No. 18 Mottin MCR.


-MetalMoro AJR, the champion in progress

After years with the MRX and a brief time with the MR18, MetalMoro brought a new prototype to the track, called AJR, which proved to be a game changed against the current competition, proving from the first round that it would smash the time sheets by achieving pole position with ease, but in racing the AJR was plagued with problems during most of the season, being a real challenger only in the last round at Tarumã, with a Chevy V8 engine in place of their original Honda K20 unit, where it broke the endurance track record and won with class in mixed conditions. It had potential to clinch the title this year, but for an experimental season things were rather good.


-In the other classes it was all about survival

If the GP1 class had an almost absolute contender, from the P2 class below it was about the least time spent fixing something as no one was effectively a favorite. In the P2 class, the No. 75 SPMec MRX was champion like this, as the two retirements in sequence of the No. 32 MC Tubarão practically handled the class title, exactly where the No. 75 won, at Santa Cruz do Sul and Velo Città.

The P3 class had the No. 69 MC Tubarão on top, thanks to sheer pace and reliability, and to the fact of committing to the full season while most of the competition did barely partial programs or even one-offs.

The time spent in the pits for the No. 155 Ferrari costed the GT1 class title, which went to the No. 46 Mottin Lamborghini, and this could have been a 1-2 for Luciano Mottin’s side if it wasn’t for a vicious crash of the No. 17 Chevy Stock Car at Tarumã. The problems on track were the curse into the No. 64 MC Tubarão BMW, as a late charge and a class win proved the car had potential.


-Grid numbers? No problem!

Despite some low numbers in the lower classes, overall grid numbers in the Dopamina Endurance season were satisfying, with no less than 25 cars and a high of 38, as the GP1 class was the main contributor with only a single race having less than 10 cars of the top class.

Some teams already announced little changes but the big announcements for the 2018 season still have to come, probably right before the start of the series, and while the calendar has seven races confirmed, the circuits to host them are still unknown.

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